General's Greetings

What a year we are having on The Hill!

The Yellow Jackets have returned to full participation in varsity sports, while complying with necessary safety protocols to keep athletes and fans healthy. I bow my head in thanks to R-MA’s Athletic Director, Frank Sullivan, and his coaches, for all the work they have done to put R-MA back on the fields and courts. God continues to bless our Academy and seeing young people play sports gives our campus a hint of the day we all pray is around the corner for our country and the world.

In October, we were visited by the Virginia Association of Independent Schools’ Accreditation Team for our Ten-Year evaluation. Their assessment of the Academy is the foundation of R-MA’s primary credential as an accredited school in Virginia. It was a great visit, allowing us an opportunity to display the progress our teachers, students, and staff have made in the decade since we last faced this test.

Our updated strategic plan, the Pre-Professional Pathways, our impressive array of labs and cutting-edge classroom activities impressed the team. Their written report is something every Yellow Jacket can justly be proud of, and we received word of our accreditation in February.

Our students engage in real-world drone work with the Smithsonian Institution’s extension campus, the local police and fire departments, and other local governmental and private entities. The ongoing partnership with Silent Falcon, an impressive drone company that recently re-located to Front Royal, gives R-MA students still more opportunities to learn by doing in this exciting field.

Shortly after the VAIS Team departed, we learned that the Federal Aviation Administration had awarded the Academy’s Unmanned Systems Lab a $307,000 grant, enabling its Director, Mr. Brian Kelly, to push R-MA’s elite drone program even further forward in this competitive field.

Just another year on The Hill, and yet our faculty and staff continue to deliver world-class results for the next generation of R-MA graduates under circumstances so many schools find simply impossible to surmount. There are a lot of reasons why the Academy will be 130 years old in April. Take a moment and think of a few...we see them here, every day!

Go Jackets!

David C. Wesley, Brigadier General, USAF., Retired President